Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

Report: Bushfire Coverage Raises Ethics Questions

By Cait McMahon

What has become known as the "Black Saturday Bushfires" is Australia’s worse natural disaster to date. On Feb. 7, 2009, temperatures of 46 degrees Celsius and winds of 100 km per hour created explosive firestorms with 1500 times the energy of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. More »

Resources for Covering the Bushfires

Assembled resourced for journalists covering the worst fires in Australia's history.

After the Fire

Part One: Burned

By Robin Gaby Fisher and Matt Rainey

This seven-part series about two young men severely burned in the dormitory fire at Seton Hall University chronicles the reality of recovery for the victims, their families, and those who care for them. Originally published in The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), in September, 2000. 

The Test of Fire

By Michele Stanush and Lynne Dobson

For its unsentimental focus on Emmett Jackson's recovery from the arson death of his wife and child and his own extensive injuries. Originally published in the Austin American-Statesman in two parts on Sept. 4, 1994, and Sept. 5, 1994.